Netscape
Communications Corp. of Mountain View, Calif., is launching its first
national advertising campaign, estimated at more than $30 million, designed to expand the Netscape brand and
promote its Netcenter portal content and services.
TV ads will appear on shows such as ER, The X-Files, The Practice, 48
Hours,
Dateline and 20/20. Print advertisements will appear in national magazines
such as Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek, Wired, New Yorker and Conde Nast
Traveler.
The campaign also features drive time radio advertisements as well as
online
ads on Internet sites that will reach 85 percent of Internet users.
Spending
was not disclosed. AOL dollars are not behind the upcoming marketing
campaign, since the AOL-Netscape deal is not expected to close for at
least 90 days, according to published reports.
Netscape’s cross-media campaign for Netcenter was created “to educate
consumers everywhere about the breadth of services and unique qualities”
of
its fast-growing Netcenter portal site, the company said. Consumers are
encouraged to visit Netcenter where they’ll find the tools they need to
“take
charge of their Internet.”
The campaign was created by Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners (KB&P), an
integrated
communications company. KB&P clients include Coca-Cola, Rockport, Target
Stores, Olympus and others.
“Netscape stands out among high-tech companies because it understands how
to
translate technology advantages into basic human terms. Our research
shows
that consumers want to take advantage of the Internet’s diverse resources,
but
they also want to save time. Netscape Netcenter meets this need by
offering
users the Internet just the way they want it,” said Steve Klein, managing
partner and director of media and interactive services at Kirshenbaum
Bond.
“Working with Netscape, KB&P was able to create an innovative campaign
that
breaks through a lot of clutter in the portal category and presents
consumers
with an intelligent alternative.”
The TV ads will begin Jan. 11. The print campaign begins in the January
editions of the various magazines. Netscape also will run a series of
outdoor advertisements, in San Francisco and New York, including
billboards and bus sides. Online buys were not disclosed.
Netscape Netcenter includes 18 content channels and Netscape-branded
Search,
Contact, SmartUpdate, Software Download, Member Directory, My Netscape
personalization and WebMail services.
